CT Senate overwhelmingly approves bill to loosen trade apprenticeship ratios
CT-N
Sen. Paul Cicarella (R-North Haven) remarks on a bill to loosen apprenticeship ratios in the state Senate chamber on Wednesday.
The state Senate on Wednesday gave overwhelming support to a revised bill that will loosen the restrictions on hiring apprentices.
An amended version of Senate Bill 1465 was approved by a 35-0 vote with one senator absent.
Existing state law sets a hiring ratio for apprentices that certain trades must follow. The rule allows contractors to hire up to three apprentices at a 1:1 ratio. After that, employers must abide by a 1:3 ratio, which means that for each new apprentice, a company must have three additional journeymen. So, a company with 12 licensed journeymen can only have six apprentices on staff.
The rules apply to companies in the electrical; plumbing; heating, piping, and cooling; sprinkler fitter; and sheet metal work trades.
The bill approved Wednesday, however, grants the commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) the power to allow a licensed contractor to hire one or more additional apprentices, up to a total of eight, even if the contractor does not employ enough journeypersons to satisfy the hiring ratio.
Contractors must apply to DCP for relief from the ratio requirement, must not have had any state disciplinary or enforcement actions taken against them in the three years before seeking relief, and must show that “good cause” exists for allowing the relief, the bill states.
It also requires the DCP commissioner to complete a review of the ratio relief application within 10 days.
Advocates for the change argue the existing ratio restricts licensed contractors from bringing on new hires to work in the trades, stifling workforce development at a time when Connecticut has 82,000 job openings.
The trades, in particular, have been hard hit by labor shortages.
Before the vote, Sen. James Maroney (D-Milford), who co-chairs the General Law Committee, praised Sen. Paul Cicarella (R-North Haven), a ranking member of the committee, for his efforts on the bill.
“This is an issue that's really been before the General Law Committee since I've been on the committee for years,” Maroney said. “This year, he really dug in and worked on this bill, and he worked collaboratively with a number of stakeholders who have signed off on the bill.”
Cicarella noted that the issue has been a “hot topic” between union and nonunion shops.
“They both had very legitimate concerns,” he said. “Unions wanted to make sure that the apprentices were being protected and used correctly.”
He added that all stakeholders took part in conversations to develop the bill, which he described as “a middle ground.”
“It is going to allow companies to bring on up to eight apprentices in a streamlined fashion, utilizing the ratio relief,” he said.
Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) spoke in favor of the bill, saying it will benefit not just young adults seeking to enter a trade, but have a broader impact as well.
“Loosening some of those limitations, those barriers, will give more of those people opportunity,” Fazio said. “But it will not just help them, it will also help our economy writ large.”
He continued, “We've seen a decrease in many blue collar jobs across our economy over many years in Connecticut, even as the white collar economy sees an increase in job growth in the state. People who are in skilled professions can make a great living and join the middle class.”
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